


Where the Grass is Greener

by Hungry_Writer



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Gen, How Do I Tag, Logan is Kind of Rude, Remus and Roman Need Hugs, Remus's Origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29294478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hungry_Writer/pseuds/Hungry_Writer
Summary: Roman goes on an adventure thinking he would just be out on a usual quest but he finds surroundings and people he had never seen before and even causes a big shift inside the mindscape.
Kudos: 5





	Where the Grass is Greener

**Author's Note:**

> This is a re-upload as something, not sure what might've been my fault, went wrong and a chunk of the fic went somewhere. Gosh I'm so embarrassed- sorry to anyone who had to suffer through this before the fix!

“Sword? Check. Rations? Check. Determination? Check. Handsome face? Definitely check.”

Roman looked up from the supplies he’d been gathering for the adventure he was about to set off on and smiled at the gorgeous face looking back at him in the mirror, he grabbed his supply bag and headed to the living room notifying Patton he’d be out adventuring for a while and would be back soon before heading out the door and deciding to head south that day as he’d never been in that direction before.

Heading south he didn’t find anything too interesting until he came across a thick tree, then two trees, then three, he soon realises he is entering a forest and bounds forward with excitement, maybe he’d find gems, or treasure or a dragon… or a dragon hoarding gems and treasure! As he wandered through the forest, growing more and more excited, he noticed the light that guided his adventure started to get dimmer, causing the forest to fill with shadow and dark. He put his fears aside and trekked on through the woods until he saw a light shine through the trees and his excitement rose once more as he ran towards the light finding himself in a small clearing in the forest with a pile of leaves surrounded by a few rocks. He approached the leaf pile thinking it was odd that all these leaves were so naturally bunched together, there was no way it could have been intentional, he took a single red leaf and smiled, red being his favourite colour he put it in his pocket. He then picked up a green leaf and looked at it, confused, it was Autumn how could there be a green leaf here? It must be a newly fallen leaf, there are still some stuck to the trees after all. He put the green leaf in his pocket too, Patton would appreciate a souvenir from his, so far, un-grand adventure. Suddenly a loud snap rang out behind Roman, breaking the, now longed for silence, as his fear returned once more and he drew his sword before taking a deep breath and spinning around pointing his sword at the direction he’d heard the noise.

“Who goes… there?” Roman stammered.

His fear and intimidating stance soon fell apart as what he saw in front of him was a male deer, it tentatively stared at him trying to perceive if Roman was a threat, it’s tail raised and ears facing forward.

“Bambi is that you?” Roman snickered, lowering his weapon and waving at the deer, “I’m just out adventuring don’t mind me.”

The deer took a few steps back, seemingly backing off and Roman turned back to the leaves and continued admiring them until he heard fast thumping of dirt getting increasingly louder, Roman whipped around and all he saw was a brown blur fast approaching before he felt a hard blunt force against his torso and he was thrown back against the leaf pile, he was relieved that the leaf pile would catch his fall but the feelings soon drained as he fell through the leaf pile and into a pit in the earth. He fell further and further until he fell into yet another pile of leaves, this time him not falling through it. Roman jolted up, incredibly confused and looked around.

He found himself surrounded by darkness the only light he could see coming from the hole he had fallen through. He was unsure of what he should do until the light looking over him got darker and he gazed up, seeing the deer that had pushed him in staring at him, almost taunting him.

“Yeah, thanks a lot, Bambi.” He grumbled, unamused.

The deer grunted at him, looking satisfied at what it had done and walked away to presumably go terrorize more unsuspecting princes. Roman stood up and decided he should live up to the other fearless princes he’d idolized so devotedly and make them proud by venturing into the darkness.

He redrew his sword and tapped it on the floor as he walked forward blindly through the darkness to avoid walking face first into a wall. He searched the room for a while before his hand felt something on the wall, it felt different from the rest of the rough, rocky wall that had normally greeted him during his wandering. What he felt was smooth and wooden, just slightly bigger than his hand, though odd, Roman welcomed something that isn't just darkness and stone. Maybe it's like a secret door like in the movies! He thought, pressing down on the wooden and to his surprise and glee, he heard a click and a small portion of the wall loudly slid open though no light filled the room, the area ahead being just as dark. Roman assumed there would be nothing left for him to do in the current room so he pressed on forward. He sheathed his sword and entered the new room, after a few steps he saw a single flame burst from a candle on the wall, then another candle parallel to the first one, then two more a few feet away from that pair, then another pair and another pair and another. Soon a long stretched corridor had been lit with wall candles that glowed bright with burning flames, the corridor was stone like the last one but this stone had been carved into even bricks and at the end of the corridor stood a single black door.

“What kind of weird hobo would live underground in some medieval, stone prison?” Roman wondered aloud.

The secret passageway he had entered through quickly slid shut leaving no sign there had even been one in the first place. He started down the corridor looking round at the candles and trying to comprehend how they could just suddenly turn on like that, he knew the sides could alter the mindscape in ways but only he, Logan and Patton inhabited Thomas’s mind and there was no way Patton would make something this dark and creepy, there’d definitely be a lot more colourful walls, Logan wouldn’t see any point in making something like this especially with this aesthetic and so far out in the woods and he definitely didn’t remember making something like this so how could it have gotten here?

Roman reached the door and hesitated for a second before opening the door and was greeted with a gloomy purple room completely covered in cobwebs, fresh cobwebs. The door slammed shut behind him and sealed itself off, disappearing into the wall, unlike the previous door which merely reclosed. The walls were a deep purple, any darker it looked like it would be black, the floor was a dark oak wood and there was a single bed, desk and chair, beanbag and a small picture of a spider on the wall. The room had no lamp or ceiling light yet it was not shrouded in complete darkness but still incredibly dim, it was just bright enough to be able to see where you’re going and the rest of the room, he looked to the other side of the room and noticed another black door identical to the one he had just walked through. Roman creeped through the room checking his back every few seconds as he had a strong feeling someone was watching him in the dark corners of the room or even right behind him and he even thought he heard something scuttling across the floor making him walk faster until he reached the door, practically scrambled to get the door open and got out to the other side.

Roman exited to face another shorter corridor and at the end instead of a dark door like the other corridor he saw an open door frame that led into a, finally, well lit room. He strode towards the room and entered looking around the room which looked like some sort of large dining room, still with stone brick walls and a chandelier hanging above the long wooden table. There were three chairs on each side of the table and one at each end of it, despite the eight chairs at the table all but two were covered in dust looking like they’d been unused their entire lives at the table. Attached to the dining room was a kitchen that looked a lot less dusty and surprisingly clean unlike the rest of the places he had been in his newly made exciting adventure, he looked across the rest of the room, scanning it for anything intriguing until he heard the same scuttling as the last room causing him to swerve around, drawing his sword, only to see a small blur enter a door and slam it behind it.

Roman bolted after the creature swinging the door open and immediately hit with a wave of confusion as when he looked through the door a vast forest stared back at him, a forest that had a sky. He quickly shook off the feeling as he remembered what he had been doing, he ran through the door into the forest and looked around wildly searching for the creature he had been chasing until he saw another blur duck behind a tree which he quickly chased after. He and the creature he was chasing ran for what felt like miles as the creature which started to look more like a deer as he saw what looked like eight antlers sticking out either side of it though he couldn’t make anything out clearly as the shape would suddenly twist, turn and swerve trying to throw Roman off it’s trail. They ran for another short while before the creature suddenly stopped and turned to face Roman stopping Roman dead in his tracks at what he saw. A short, young boy, wearing a dark plaid jacket and black eyeshadow, the boy looked like Thomas, just like all the sides did, except two incredibly discerning features. He had eight black spider legs protruding from his back and six glowing, purple eyes.

“A new side? That couldn’t be why would they be down here?” Roman thought to himself making sure not to say this allowed out of fear of scaring away the boy.

The boy looked like he had been running like his life depended on it and had the expression of someone terrified, they both were gasping for air as they had run so far and simply stood and stared until another figure came running out of the trees and protectively standing in front of the small boy. 

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” He hissed with a cold and unwelcoming tone, clearly showing no liking to Roman being there.

The new boy that stood in front of the spider like one was slightly taller and held a long, wooden staff, almost as tall as him, he too looked like Thomas except for half of his face which had odd green snake scales adorning it and one yellow snake eye which glowed in the darkness much like the younger spider-like boy’s. Roman was stunned, fumbling over his words in an attempt to find an answer before the taller boy interrupted.

“You’re from up there aren’t you? You’re certainly not from here, I advise you leave and never return, you upper sides are nothing but trouble for us. I don’t know how you got here but you should just go back the way you came.”

He stomped his staff on the ground and he along with the spider-boy dissipated right before Roman’s eyes.

“What the hell just happened?!” Roman yelled in utter confusion to what just unfolded in those few seconds, “There are more sides? Why wasn’t I told about this? Well this has certainly been a very wild adventure.”

He looked around and Roman realised he had become very lost in his attempt to chase the creature which he knew now must have been another side. He decided nothing comes to those who do nothing and spun in a circle before bounding off in the first direction he was facing after he stopped. He continued before he heard what sounded like music, carnival music. He followed the sound of the music until he reached what looked like a classic red and white striped large circus tent, he walked towards the tent until he got to the entrance and strode through ready to face whatever was inside. Inside Roman was suddenly faced with what looked like a funhouse of mirrors like corridor that seemed to turn round a corner despite the size of the tent not being compatible with the length of the corridor. Roman walked down the corridor giggling at the funny shapes the mirrors would morph him into as he passed by each one.

He continued through the funhouse until he turned a corner and what he saw was a darkened hallway with no other mirror except for one lone, dusty, black framed mirror looming at the other end of the hallway. The mirror’s glass is murky with swirl pattern grooves along the dusty frame, it looked unused and neglected but it gave off a strange energy Roman could not quite put his finger on. Feeling drawn to the mirror, Roman approaches and as he does the glass on the mirror becomes clearer, cleaner almost sparkling. In the mirror he sees his reflection but ,as identical as it is, there is something off about it, the reflection had the same handsome face, the same hair and the same eyes but his clothes were different. Instead of wearing Roman’s white T-shirt and red sash the reflection wore a black T-shirt and green sash, this made Roman confused, the mirror definitely wasn’t someone else as it copied his facial expressions and movements to perfection so why did it wear different coloured clothes? Roman slowly reached out to touch the mirror and when his hand met with the reflection instead of hitting glass his hand interlocked with the person on the other side. He froze in confusion and panic. This was no normal mirror, this couldn’t possibly be, who is this other boy and how was this even happening?

After no more than a second of thought Roman decided there was only one thing to do and in one swift motion he pulled his copy through the mirror and out to the other side but he pulled with a bit too much force and both fell to the ground. 

The green sashed boy sat up and looked around in intense confusion, “What the? Where is this? Who are you?” He questioned, pointing to Roman.

“Uhm, I am Roman, I represent creativity. I’m not exactly sure if what I did was a good idea.” Roman laughed nervously, trying to keep composure.

“Well... who am I?” The boy asked hoping for an answer as truly didn't know who he was.

“That is... a hard question to answer...” Roman sat in thought for a few moments before his eyes lit up with an epiphany, “What if you’re my twin brother!” He exclaimed in excitement.

“Twin brother?” The boy echoed the other’s words before smiling and nodded with glee, “Yeah! It makes sense too since we look the same! Does that mean we’re both creativity?”

“I guess it does.” Roman chimed with a wide grin, “With two creativities Thomas will be the ultimate pursuer of the arts!”

“He could be like Van Gogh and cut off his ear!” His brother yelled before laughing maniacally.

Roman looked at him strangely and shuddered, “Maybe let’s not use that kind of comparison. Oh hey I should introduce you to Logan and Patton!”

“Login and who?” He tilted his head in confusion.

“It’s Logan not Login and they’re my friends, we all live in Thomas’s mindscape together, you should come back and live with us, we are brothers after all!”

Nodding, Roman’s new brother stood up and helped his brother do the same before running back through the fun house to the way Roman had come in through, he ran and his brother chased until they both reached the outside and the two eyed there surroundings, Roman looking for an exit and his brother just taking everything in. Roman took the other’s hand and confidently strode forward trying to mask the fact that he had absolutely no idea where he was going, they kept walking in mostly silence save for the random noises Roman’s brother would make to scare him until they reached the rocky wall of a mountain. Peering to the left and right it seemed the wall went on for miles as did the forest but after a double take they noticed a dark grey door that almost blended with its rocky surroundings. The green sashed boy ran towards the door with his twin following close behind.

Through the door was a dull, empty and unfurnished room, grey and barren seeming to have no inhabitants yet not a single speck of dust lined the floors or walls. 

“There’s nothing in here!” The younger twin sighed, hoping for something thrilling.

“Don’t worry you’ll see more interesting things on the way back.” Roman chuckled.

True to Roman’s word they passed the many intriguing and both unsettling things as they made their way back through the forest, kitchen and corridors until Roman noticed his brother had a worried expression on his face.

“You alright, brother?” Roman asked, putting an arm around the other’s shoulder.

“I’m fine it’s just what if they don’t like me or think I'm a copycat and kill me!” His voice had a scared tone as he stared at the ground trying to calm himself.

“Woah don’t jump to conclusions!” Roman quickly cut the other off, “They’ll love you I’m sure.”

“Promise?” The younger asked with hope in his eyes.

“Promise.” Roman smiled as his twin gave him a warm embrace which he gladly returned.

“Hey do you think I could maybe pick a name for myself?” He asked Roman gleefully.

“Sure! What name are you thinking of?”

Roman watched his brother list off names letting the cogs turn in his head.

“Bob…Steve…Ron…Romulus…Remus……Remus! That’s it, Remus!” He jumped up and down repeating his new found name in utter joy.

“Remus sounds like a great name, it matches the first letter of mine too!” Roman laughed at the coincidence if it even was one, “C’mon let’s go get out of this dark and dreary place.”

The two walked through the rest of the strange dungeon until arriving back to the dark room where Roman had first fallen. The room was the exact same as when he had left with the darkness surrounding them except for the hole which had the same light shining through.

“How are we gonna get up there?” Remus asked, staring at the hole to the outside world.

“What if you lift me up so I can climb out and then I pull you out?” Roman proudly suggested, happy he had created such an amazing idea.

“Sounds like a plan.” His brother replied, standing under the gateway to the surface.

Roman climbed onto Remus’ shoulders and jumped a bit to reach the top before hooking his foot around a rock and leaning down to lend a hand to the other. After being helped out Remus gazed around the forest in wonder at all the flowers and grass. Remus finished admiring his surroundings and followed Roman back to the house where Roman made a grand entrance as he usually did when he was finished his adventures.

“Greetings my friends!” Roman exclaimed entering with Remus practically hiding behind him, “I returned from my grand quest, or should I say we have!”

Logan and Patton looked at him in confusion until Roman then stood to the side revealing Remus and after a moment of shock brightly smiled and waved to Logan and Patton who stood staring at him. After a long, awkward silence Roman laughed nervously and tried to break the silence.

“This is Remus, my new twin brother, I found him while I was out on my great adventure!”

Patton smiled and went over, hugging the two boys, “Well we’re happy to welcome a new family member!”

Logan eyed Remus suspiciously before turning to Roman, “Roman where exactly did you find Remus?”

“Like I said on my adventure-” He started before Logan cut him off.

“No I mean where not when. He couldn’t have just suddenly appeared to you.”

Roman looked to Remus who nodded at him which gave Roman enough courage to take a deep breath and tell the truth.

“It’s a long story but to make it as short as I can I got pushed into a weird underground dungeon place with a bunch of rooms and a forest. While I was in the forest I found this weird fun house of mirrors and he was in one of them so I pulled him out.”

They all sat in silence yet again until Patton put a hand on Roman’s shoulder and spoke, gently but still direct.

“Roman it may not have been such a good idea to bring back a stranger from an underground place that we’ve never heard of.”

Roman tried to protest before Logan again cut him off in a much more stern tone than Patton’s.

“Roman, you need to send him back, we don’t know where he came from or how much of a threat he is. What if he has ulterior motives?”

“I’m sure he’s not!” Roman snapped in response, “He was with me the whole way back and didn’t try anything!”

“Roman this is for the safety of all of us, including Thomas. You need to take him back.”

Logan and Roman continued to argue back and forth with Patton trying and failing to diffuse the situation while Remus was stunned, listening to Logan call him, “dangerous,” “suspicious,” “strange,” and he began to realise more and more how much he didn’t belong there. The yelling of Roman and Logan was suddenly cut short with the opening of the front door as they saw Remus run outside in tears, Roman quickly running after him but found it hard to catch up to his brother by the speed he was going. Remus kept running until he and Roman reached the same clearing Roman had discovered at the start of his journey. Remus stood with the pit just behind him as he faced Roman.

“Remus, you can come back and we can explain to Logan and Patton that you’re not bad!” Roman begged, reaching a hand out to his brother.

“Sorry Roman, it was never meant to be… have fun on the side where the grass is greener.”

Remus then took a step back and let himself fall back into the pit which started to close once he had fallen in. Roman scrambled to get to the hole before it could completely close but he was a few seconds too late, Roman desperately tried to dig back through to the underground to no avail. He sat and mourned losing his brother that he had just received before returning home with a heavy heart.

It would take Roman a few days before forgiving Logan and Patton before life, more or less, resumed as it once had, Roman not seeing his brother again for good few years, Remus having vastly changed, where resentful is an understatement of how Remus felt towards his twin, causing a rift between the two that would last for years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> If there's any other mistakes or parts where it seems the story suddenly jumps please leave a comment informing me of the mistake so that I may fix it!


End file.
